Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)

D.A.R.E. Advisory Board | Downloads | Local D.A.R.E. Programs |

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education Advisory Board was created in l993 to develop, promote, monitor, and evaluate the D.A.R.E. program throughout the state and serve as an advisory board to the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement. 

Act 148 of the Third Extraordinary Session of 1994 enabled state funding of the D.A.R.E. program for the first time.  State funding continued from that point until state FY 2002.  Act 19 of the 2002 Regular Session of the Legislature increased the tax on cigarettes, resulting in those funds being deposited in the Tobacco Tax Health Care Fund.  A portion of those funds are now used to administer and implement D.A.R.E. programs statewide. 

LCLE continues to make grants available to sheriffs’ offices and police departments who demonstrate the capacity to offer the D.A.R.E. program in accordance with the national model. D.A.R.E. is a substance abuse prevention program designed to equip school children with skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. The program uses uniformed law enforcement officers to teach a formal curriculum to students in a classroom setting.  Law enforcement officers become certified DARE officers by completing the required training courses at certified D.A.R.E. training center.

Act 832 of 1989 enacted the Drug Education and Treatment Fund, which requires any person placed on probation or with a suspended sentence for conviction of a violation of the controlled dangerous substance law to pay a fee of not less than fifty dollars ($50) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100).  Fees collected by LCLE are credited to the Drug Abuse Education and Treatment Fund and used to administer grant programs that assist local public and private non-profit agencies involved in drug abuse prevention programs.  

Drug Abuse Education and Treatment funds are also made available for one-time grants for new/innovative projects in drug abuse prevention and treatment to agencies that demonstrate both a need for such a project and for start-up funds for a twelve-month period. Such projects must also demonstrate what efforts will be undertaken to continue the project once the initial 12-month grant period has expired. Generally, grants cannot exceed $20,000. 

LCLE funds a maximum of two such projects annually, contingent upon collections occurring in the prior fiscal year in such amount that would allow for the support of such efforts. Eligible agencies include local units of government and private, non-profit agencies.

For More Information:

Contact  Erica Johnson, DARE Program Manager at 225.342.1640.